Category Archives: Deliberate Practice

Do They Like My Work?

Posted on October 12, 2018 by

I am taking a ten-week illustration course at a local university. Our first assignment was to select text from an unillustrated book and then to illustrate it using five types of pencil marks- hatching, crosshatching, scribbling, tick marks, and pressure … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberate Practice, Telling a Story | Tagged | 6 Comments

On the Rocks at Yosemite

Posted on September 27, 2018 by

My cousin, who is an amazing artist, has been working with gouache on brown paper. She sent me a photo of a recent painting and it was so gorgeous that it caused me to paint the day away on brown … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberate Practice, Landscape, Learning | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Better Backgrounds

Posted on September 13, 2018 by

I really enjoy painting the models from our figure drawing group, especially the quick five-minute sketches like the one above. However, I am at a loss for what to do with the rest of the paper, that is, how to … Continue reading →

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Between Two Trees

Posted on January 3, 2018 by

Today I continued to try out new surfaces to paint on. This surface is black watercolor grounds applied with a roller. It made for a rough but uniform texture and absorbed the color down into its surface. I painted at Torrey Pines … Continue reading →

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High Tide at Torrey Pines

Posted on January 2, 2018 by

There was such a high tide at Torrey Pines this morning, the lagoon was full of water and very exciting to sketch. In my enthusiasm, I painted over the shoreline and road but like the sketch anyway. Yesterday I prepared a … Continue reading →

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Taco Redo

Posted on January 1, 2018 by

For the last 10 days or so I have been experimenting with the surfaces that I paint on. My goal is to find something that allows me to rework sections of a painting. So far I have tried painting on paper … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberate Practice, Interior, Learning | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Lily Pond Corner

Posted on October 17, 2017 by

Our plein air class went back to the Lily Pond at Balboa Park. I worked on reflections again. This time I left a large amount of black paper unpainted to suggest deep water and to contrast with the lily pads … Continue reading →

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Flowers and Figure

Posted on October 9, 2017 by

We worked on quickly capturing gesture with a minimum of lines during the first portion of the figure drawing class this morning. Then we had several 20 minute periods of time to capture a figure using gesture and to place … Continue reading →

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Editing Sketches with Apps

Posted on October 8, 2017 by

This was an interesting afternoon. I went back and edited some of my sketches from the week with Procreate, Snapseed and Photos, all apps on my iPad. In the sketch above I adjusted the tables in front of the two … Continue reading →

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Hillside Near Rancho Bernardo

Posted on September 27, 2017 by

It is hot and dry in San Diego County just now and there was not a lot of shade this morning where I was sketching near the Bernardo Winery northeast of San Diego. I love the brown and yellow in … Continue reading →

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Back to Alcazar Garden

Posted on September 26, 2017 by

Our landscape class painted again at Alcazar Garden in Balboa Park. Before leaving the house this morning, I looked at my sketch, ‘Among the Hedges‘, that I made on September 28 at Alcazar Garden. I thought it was much too … Continue reading →

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Negative Space

Posted on September 25, 2017 by

In the figure drawing class today we worked on making the figure pop by developing the negative space around the figure. For example, the bedding the model is sitting on got much more emphasis than the model herself. This is … Continue reading →

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Light for the Sunflowers

Posted on September 17, 2017 by

Last Monday I sketched these sunflowers in this same setting. I liked it because it was a simple bold design. However,  after two days of looking at the sketch alongside the flowers in my living room, I decided it would … Continue reading →

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As the Afternoon Ends

Posted on September 16, 2017 by

In this fourth sketch set in the west plaza at San Diego State University, the single figure takes up more of the space on the page and the sky does not extend beyond the row of palm trees. I think … Continue reading →

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Taking in the View

Posted on September 15, 2017 by

After twenty-six months of sketching a new scene pretty much every day,  I am making a change. Rather than sketching a scene one day and then moving on to a new scene the next day, I will be sticking to … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberate Practice, Groups Interacting, Landscape, Learning, Telling a Story | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Monday Afternoon

Posted on September 4, 2017 by

Lately I have been noticing reflected light. This afternoon I saw how the floor, table, chairs and window reflected so much of it in the afternoon light and I began to practice capturing it.  This is a gouache and pastel … Continue reading →

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Counter Reflection in Daylight

Posted on September 1, 2017 by

Although I liked yesterday’s sketch, ‘Counter Reflection,’ I was bothered by the upper right side where I had included a very small portion of the next room. That area was so small that I found it distracting. Then I noticed … Continue reading →

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My Plein Air Set-up

Posted on August 11, 2017 by

  Since today is a driving day I thought I would write about the supplies I now take with me when I paint on location. Before this summer I would go plein air painting, that is, paint on location, at … Continue reading →

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Another Meadow

Posted on August 6, 2017 by

This is another sketch which, like yesterday’s, is mostly about learning to paint meadows. However, this one is painted from a photo because by the time I got up to where this meadow is on the Telluride ski slopes it … Continue reading →

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Telluride Mountains and Meadows

Posted on July 19, 2017 by

I have been working on sketching the mountains in this area and am having trouble getting a feeling of distance in these sketches. I think I need to fade out the distant mountains more and include more of the vibrant … Continue reading →

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First Try On The Rise

Posted on July 16, 2017 by

Today we drove about 50 miles to Telluride Colorado where I will be sketching while my husband works here for the the next four weeks. What with breaking down our old campsite and moving into the rental here I never … Continue reading →

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At the Pond

Posted on July 2, 2017 by

Sometimes you see something special and grab your sketchbook, working as fast as you can to capture it. I am at a working ranch in Colorado for a wedding tomorrow and suddenly had a chance to make some rapid line … Continue reading →

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Thinking about the Shapes

Posted on June 21, 2017 by

I attended a one-day class today where we painted using a drawing supplied by the teacher. Although the teacher wanted us to use our time to apply paint, not draw, we did do a simple value sketch before beginning to … Continue reading →

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A Vase for June Flowers

Posted on June 16, 2017 by

Today’s sketch is a variant of yesterday’s. It is a sketch of the same bouquet but with some of the leaves removed. This time I wanted to make the vase more transparent and used highly diluted paint for most of … Continue reading →

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June Flowers

Posted on June 16, 2017 by

I have wanted to learn to paint without first making guidelines on the paper. The flowers are everywhere this June and I picked a bouquet to practice with, thinking that if the parts did not fit together properly that it … Continue reading →

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Back to Cuernavaca’s Borda Garden

Posted on June 7, 2017 by

Last week I sketched one of the reflecting pools in the Borda Garden in Cuernavaca and I had to go back again today for another sketch. The garden is the kind of place that calls you; it is tranquil, harmonious and … Continue reading →

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At the Xochicalco Pyramids

Posted on June 5, 2017 by

  We went to the Archaeological Monument of Xochicalco, which features the ruins of a huge commercial and religious center of the Olmeca-Xicallanca people. There is a museum and extensive excavated ruins of what once was a very large town … Continue reading →

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Homework Time

Posted on May 29, 2017 by

This Spanish course that the five of us are taking is really great. Not only are we learning Spanish in small groups, but we also have homework. This means my four fellow students are holding relatively still this evening while … Continue reading →

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Spring Comes to The Homestead Trail

Posted on May 21, 2017 by

I took the photo that this picture is based on while biking on the Homestead Trail at Prince Edward Island National Park earlier this month. It was still pretty cold, at least to my California bones, and most of the … Continue reading →

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Dining Room in Vermont

Posted on May 21, 2017 by

I continued today to use photos as the basis of my sketch. This is from the dining room of friends who live in Vermont. I liked the look and feel of the room and thought the way the sunlight entered the … Continue reading →

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